Eagles basketball extends slump

Photo by: Will Gentry

 

The Oklahoma Christian University men’s basketball team suffered their third and fourth consecutive losses at the hands of McMurry University and St. Edward’s University.

The Eagles played McMurry on Thursday night. Although the Eagles led the game during the entire first half, the War Hawks pulled out even 31-31 at halftime.

Saturday’s game against St. Edward’s started roughly for the Eagles, making only one of their first 13 shots, but they were able to fight back and even the playing field. Coming within four points, the final score was 61-57.

On Thursday Oklahoma Christian kept hold of the lead until the last 18 minutes. According to Head Coach of Men’s Basketball Dan Hays, individual players had strong performances.

“Talley had an outstanding game at McMurry,” Hays said.

Senior Kendre Talley, Oklahoma Christian’s veteran point guard, scored 23 points in Thursday’s game – posting the most of any player that night.

“He does a little bit of everything for us,” freshman forward Jordan Rutherford said.

Talley scored 10 of his 23 points during the final minutes, but the rally fell short and McMurry pulled out the victory 67-64.

“This weekend I think I played OK, but could have played a lot better offensively,” Talley said.

Although the teams proved evenly matched in talent, the Eagles committed some fundamental errors. Officials gave the team a technical foul for having six players on the court in the first half, followed by two fatal fouls on 3-point attempts made by McMurry.

“They get eight free points for [us] just being fundamentally unsound,” Hays said. “That’s what we’ve got to correct, those little things.”

Despite high levels of effort, the Eagles’ shooting seemed to be off, according to Talley and Hays.

“After this weekend, we saw how good we could play together because of our performance in the second half of both games,” Talley said. “Neither teams, I feel, were better than us, but when we aren’t making shots they definitely have an advantage.”

Hays attributed the Eagles’ loss to poor offensive execution.

“It wasn’t because we weren’t playing good,” Hays said. “We just missed some shots. That sounds too easy, but that’s what it was.”

Rutherford echoed Hays’ sentiments.

“For both games it was pretty much the same thing; we couldn’t make shots and the other team made theirs,” Rutherford said. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle shooting lately, and teams get these big leads which we have to come back from and ultimately run out of time.”

So far the Eagles have been unsuccessful in mounting comeback wins.

“We as a group have got to become more consistent,” Hays said.

Although Talley and juniors Willie Harper and Nick Tate all played well, the rest of the team struggled, especially the frontcourt, during Thursday’s game.

“We just have to stay together and start making shots, then we should start winning and keep the morale up,” Rutherford said.

Saturday’s game against St. Edward’s remained close, and despite the loss, several players had strong games. Talley had 12 points and made five assists.

Harper led the Eagles with a game-high 19 points and contributed four steals, while Tate added 12 points for the Eagles on Saturday.

Hays and his Eagles felt they hadn’t played their best, and that the teams were pretty equal.

“They were teams very similar to us, teams that on most nights could beat most teams,” Hays said. “But when we’re not playing up to our potential…”

Talley recognized this as well, especially about Saturday’s game against St. Edward’s.

“I missed a lot of [layup] shots on Saturday,” Talley said.

Another problem for the Eagles in both games, besides shooting, was the inability to get to the free-throw line enough, according to Hays.

“At McMurry we got to the free-throw line only 13 times,” Hays said.

While the Eagles stepped up to the line more against St. Edward’s, it still wasn’t enough.

“We only got 27 free throws,” Hays said. “We need to get to the free-throw line more.”

The Eagles played the University of Texas of the Permian Basin yesterday, falling 74-65. The Eagles face off against Lubbock Christian University tomorrow at 3.